Man abandons child while running from Orange County deputies
By: Orange County, FL - A man arrested Tuesday in Orange County is accused of abandoning a young child while on the run from deputies, according to the sheriff's office.
The Orange County Sheriff's Office shared video to social media on Friday showing helicopter and bodycam footage of the pursuit and arrest of Jason Kenon, 24.
Kenon faces charges including aggravated fleeing/attempting to elude law enforcement with injury and/or property damage, reckless driving, leaving the scene of a crash with injuries, possession of fewer than 20 grams of cannabis, possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony, and two counts of child neglect, records show.
The pursuit began after deputies attempted to conduct a traffic stop, the sheriff's office said.
The video shared by the sheriff's office shows a car traveling at high speeds through residential streets and crashing into at least one other vehicle before, while stopped, a passenger holding a 1-year-old child steps out of one of the rear seats. Another child tries to open the other rear door, but the driver — identified as Kenon — hit the gas before the second child could exit the car, the video shows.
Soon after, Kenon exits the vehicle while it's still in motion, jumps back inside to stop it, and opens a rear door to pick up the second child, who the sheriff's office said was 4 years old, the video shows.
After running with the child in his arms, Kenon is soon seen sprinting well ahead of the 4-year-old before outrunning him completely.
"Alright, he left the kid behind," an officer can be heard saying in the video.
As Kenon is arrested, bodycam video shows a deputy reaching the 4-year-old, who was crying.
"It's OK, it's OK," the deputy said while picking the boy up.
The video ends with deputies giving the boy a few gifts and positive affirmations. Both of the children were evaluated and were not injured, the sheriff's office said.
Kenon was still in the Orange County jail at the time of this writing. He was being held on no bond pursuant to a warrant out of Osceola County regarding a violation of probation, records show.